Surgeons who use electro-cautery tools (e.g., “cautery tools,” “surgical tools,” “surgical instruments,” or “robotic tools,”) and/or laser tools within body cavities cause charring of patient tissue. The charred tissue builds up on the cautery tool surface and inhibits the effectiveness of the cautery tool. Currently, proper cleaning of these surgical tools requires removal of the surgical tool from the patient's body to be cleaned manually, externally, by a surgical assistant. This cleaning process may be needed as often as every 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the surgery, and each tool removal step may consume as much as 1 to 2 minutes. Established practice for cleaning of the cautery tools dictates the use of cloth, gauze, sponge or abrasive (e.g., polyurethane) pads to remove charred tissue from the cautery tool and then reattaching the cautery tool to the robotic surgical system and reintroducing the cautery tool to the internal surgical site through an opening into the body cavity.
In an effort to avoid the time consumption required to clean surgical tools with this established practice, many surgeons scrape their surgical tools together at the surgical site (internally) to remove charred tissue from their instruments. Cupspoon or grasping forceps, a commonly used laparoscopic accessory tool manipulated by the surgical assistant, are also used for cleaning surgical instruments at the surgical site, but are only effective at removing large chunks of tissue. Therefore, cupspoon forceps do not resolve the charred tissue buildup problem. Furthermore, tool scraping is a dangerous practice, as contacting the tools in this manner can lead to accidental electrical arcing or the forceful release of tension from two tools being pressed together, leading to the potential for puncture wounds. Tool scraping also dulls bladed tools, leading to less effective instruments and shortened usable lifespan. New tools and methods to alleviate and resolve these problems would be desirable and it is to such a solution that the presently disclosed inventive concepts are directed.